Federal National Mortgage Ass'n v. Nunez, 460 Mass. 511 (2011)

Citation: Federal National Mortgage Ass'n v. Nunez, 460 Mass. 511 (2011)
Parent Document: Federal National Mortgage Ass'n v. Nunez, 460 Mass. 511 (2011)
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date: 2011-09-06
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/6580334/federal-national-mortgage-assn-v-nunez/ ↗

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Because the Legislature did not make clear in unequivocal terms that the statute applies to properties foreclosed on before the effective date, we must determine whether such an application of the statute would be retroactive in effect. See FernandezVargas v. Gonzales, 548 U.S. 30, 37 (2006). “[D]eciding when a statute operates ‘retroactively’ is not always a simple or mechani*522cal task.” Landgraf v. USI Film Prods., supra at 268. While the Supreme Court has broadly stated that a retroactive law is one that “attaches new legal consequences to events completed before its enactment,” it has also acknowledged that “[a] statute does not operate ‘retrospectively’ merely because it is applied in a case arising from conduct antedating the statute’s enactment ... or upsets expectations based in prior law.” Id. at 269-270. “Even uncontroversially prospective statutes may unsettle expectations and impose burdens on past conduct: a new property tax or zoning regulation may upset the reasonable expectations that prompted those affected to acquire property; a new law banning gambling harms the person who had begun to construct a casino before the law’s enactment . . . .” Id. at 269 n.24. “If every time a man relied on existing law in arranging his affairs, he were made secure against any change in legal rules, the whole body of our law would be ossified forever.” Id., quoting L. Fuller, The Morality of Law 60 (1964).

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